Videos for songs such as "Whip It", "Freedom of Choice", "Satisfaction", "Love without Anger", "Beautiful World", and "Through Bein' Cool" were staples of MTV's rotation in its early months on the air. Some of those videos can be seen today on the digital-cable channel VH1 Classics.

Despite that the suggestion his thick glasses are a stage image, he needs them badly to see and has been severely near-sighted his whole life, so much so that he was nearly declared legally blind as a child.